It was past midnight on the East Coast when Nuggets got a fresh start. They didn’t take advantage of it.
After one of their worst quarters of the season, the Nuggets came back from down 22 in the second half to force overtime Tuesday before falling 117-107 to the Suns at Ball Arena, snapping a six-game win streak. Kevin Durant snapped out of a drought with 11 points between the last 30 seconds of regulation and overtime, while the Nuggets reverted to their second-quarter form, turning the ball over twice to start the extra period and never recovering.
“They came out a lot more aggressive in their movements, if that makes sense, and we were just a step late,” Jamal Murray said.
Denver (42-20) trailed 99-90 with 3:54 left after Bradley Beal made an open three around a ball screen. Then the Nuggets went on a 12-0 run capped by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s transition 3-pointer for a late 100-99 lead. Durant tied it with a step-back three with 26 seconds left, and Nikola Jokic couldn’t make a contested baseline runner as time expired.
Jokic’s run of blistering stat lines since the All-Star break was put on pause by old friend Jusuf Nurkic and company. The Suns limited Jokic to 25 points on 8-of-18 shooting with seven turnovers. On the other end, Durant couldn’t get his shot to fall most of the night. It took 34 attempts to reach 35 points. He missed 12 in a stretch of 13 shots before the clutch three.
Offense was a struggle all game, but it completely sputtered for a six-minute stretch in the second quarter without a field goal. Phoenix went on a 21-1 run to blow open a game that had been evenly contested to that point. The Nuggets were outscored 37-18 in the quarter.
“We did nothing in that quarter,” coach Michael Malone said. “… You have to expend so much energy to get back in the game.”
Murray and Denver’s defense allowed Grayson Allen, the NBA leader in 3-point percentage this season, to make his first eight 3s in a stunning heat-check performance that outdid Michael Porter Jr.’s 100% game Saturday in Los Angeles. The first four of Allen’s makes were in the first quarter as he was left with clean looks far too often. He established a rhythm.
By the second half, as the Nuggets emerged from their locker room hoping to channel more of their recent comeback magic, the Suns were hellbent on keeping him hot to diffuse any momentum before Denver could gain it. Allen made another three on the first possession after halftime. The lead ballooned to 22 after he made another.
“We had a couple of guys that kind of showed up tonight in chill mode,” Malone said of his team’s 3-point defense.
Still, the Nuggets began to chip away at the Suns’ lead. Even during another turnover-prone sequence of empty possessions — another two-plus minutes without a field goal — their defense endured. Their best offense was getting Nurkic out of the game by drawing his fourth and fifth fouls. It was down to nine by the end of the third, without any notable runs.
The start of the fourth was more of the same. Denver’s second unit couldn’t score. But it could defend serviceably enough. Peyton Watson blocked a shot on consecutive possessions, including an Allen dunk attempt. The swats were sandwiched by a poorly executed fast break in which Murray passed it to nobody, out of bounds for an unforced turnover. After four minutes of back-and-forth, Porter finally drained a catch-and-shoot three from Watson, and it was 94-88. Phoenix needed a timeout.
What followed as the starters checked back in was another chaotic barrage of wide-open missed 3s — by both teams.
“We missed a lot of really good looks. It’s not just one quarter,” Murray said. “We missed a lot of good looks to even bring ourselves back. It was just frustrating, man. Just frustrating. You put a lot of energy and effort to make up for that quarter, and you come out with a loss. It’s tough to go back home at night.”
